" In light of Ignatius' 'Two Standards' and 'The Mystries Done From The Garden To The House Of Annas', at any moment we can be Judas or Peter, a Christian life can be a fine line."

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Agere Contra And Freedom

St. Ignatius was keenly sensitive to interior motions that draw us
away from God – proposing things that bring us away from God as
pleasurable, or things that bring us toward God as undesirable. He
called these “desolation.” And he proposed that we work against – “agere contra” – desolation, that is, that we work against our unfreedoms in
our relationship with our selves in our relationship with God. This is
in his “Rules For the Discernment of Spirit.”“Agere contra” is as much a principle of Ignatian Spirituality as is “magis” or “finding God in all things”or “ad majorem Dei gloriam.”It
is what fasting and abstinence are all about, especially in the season
of Lent. Concretely, if you habitually postpone doing your homework because
you just have to watch TV for two hours every night,“agree contra”may
mean that you decide to watch TV less. If you truly dislike the person
who grates against your spirit at work, “agere contra”may mean that you
decide to communicate with and understand that person better. If you
normally think you know everything better than others and so have the
right to lecture all who approach you, “agere contra” may mean that you
consciously pause and listen to what others have to say.

Link (here) to full post by Fr. Joel Tabora, S.J. is a Jesuit Priest and currently
President of Ateneo de Naga University. He chairs the Association of
Jesuit Colleges and Universities Asia Pacific, as well as the Committee
on Advocacy of the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines.
He is a board member of the Coordination Council of Private Educational
Associations (COCOPEA) in the Philippines.

About Me

I am not a Jesuit, nor am I a cleric. I spent about 5 years under the spiritual direction of a Jesuit, 3 of those years in a weekly directed retreat in everyday life. The profound impact that the Society and the Excercises had upon my life, resulted in me, trying to deal with that impact in some way by sharing my view of Jesus Christ with others. My intention is to pull together Jesuitical and Catholic subjects that interest me. I was born on the feast day of St. Paul Miki, S.J.. I am the father of three small children and an infant, I am married to a great wife.